Towards an International City
In a blog dated July 29, 2008, a friend of LatiNola, Tom Gill, wrote:
There are many difficult issues surrounding the immigration debate. In the wake of Katrina and Rita, New Orleans uniquely demonstrates the complexity of the issue. However, there is one reality that cannot be denied: the city, and the majority of the Gulf Coast, depended heavily on the undocumented Latino community following the storms. When the workers were needed, policies were adjusted and radio ads aimed at their recruitment were aired. Then, when it was decided that the need for these workers lessened, the detentions and deportations increased rapidly – certainly much more rapidly than the passage of comprehensive reform. (For the full blog, visit Tom’s blog section at The Citizen.)
Reading Tom’s blog reminds us of how complex comprehensive reform is and will be, regardless of who is the next President of the United States. There is a great deal of misinformation and fear that plays heavily into the hearts and minds of voters who listen to the over-simplified diatribe of anti-immigrant groups. These groups are so effective that even immigrants themselves, and even children and descendants of immigrants, rally behind anti-immigrant laws and rhetoric. Will it ever stop? Maybe, if we are lucky, we may be witnesses to a cultural shift in this country in which class and ethnically based intolerance and hatred is replaced by understanding and pride in diversity–maybe. So how would, or how could, such a shift take place? Where does it begin? How does it begin? When does it start? Who gets it started? Do we wait around for someone else to finally wake up and say, hey, this isn’t right, we can do better. Do we wait for the same person, or group of people who wake up to then think about action and articulate action and do action and then we join?
History has shown that it only takes a few to influence many. All great movements, great revolutions, great cultural shifts, start in the hearts and minds of a few who believe passionately in a better world, a better way. Why can’t New Orleans play that role? At Puentes, we believe that it can and we believe that we are in the middle of a great opportunity. To what do I refer to? I am speaking about cultural shift. I am speaking about change so profound that we are recognized in a new light ten to twenty years from now. I am referring to New Orleans becoming actively conscious and strategically conscientious about its opportunity to become a true international city.
Doesn’t sound revolutionary, does it? After all, haven’t our political leaders and our business elite talked about making New Orleans more international in the last three years since the storms? Certainly, they have done that. And hasn’t the Port of New Orleans been adamant about expanding international trade? Certainly, it has done that. And hasn’t the airport presented all over the region on its goal to reclaim its international flights? Of course, it’s done that. So, one would have to ask, isn’t New Orleans already working towards becoming an international city? No, not quite.
The efforts mentioned above, and many similar efforts that are based in economics only go so far in re-imagining New Orleans. But what happens when a future New Orleans is able to lure a large international conglomerate to open doors and create jobs in the area and this same conglomerate brings a significant percentage of its workforce that has limited English proficiency? What happens when tourists, upon whom so much of our economy depends, spend time on our streets and experience discrimination, bigotry and other injustices? What happens if we, as a region, are not adequately, and deeply prepared to capitalize on these opportunities? The conglomerate that is made to feel at home because of a functioning region that, on all levels, is welcoming to internationals, goes out of its way to advocate on behalf of our region and invite others to follow in their footsteps. The tourist who feels the welcoming nature of our city streets, our friendly communities, goes back home to inform her network of people that New Orleans is worth a visit.
We already do some of this in a very limited fashion in our tourist areas, but what does this look like across the entire region? What does it mean to become truly international? To aspire to be a real player for attention on the international scene and be proactive about that rather than reactive? What does it mean to be able to make a Spanish speaker, a Japanese speaker or German speaker feel that we are going out of our way to make them feel at home?
I think these are the sorts of questions that we should be considering. And I believe that answers to these sorts of questions will bring the New Orleans region to a unique space that not many U.S. cities can claim. Imagine a New Orleans that is able to provide, as truly international cities do, information and services in various languages above and beyond English. Imagine a New Orleans region that boasts a public education system that takes pride in its bilingual and trilingual students. Imagine a workforce that is the envy of the United States because it trains for international relations rather than for provincial insularity. Such transformation is possible for our city and our region, but it will take our collected effort to imagine such a place. We can still keep what is unique and beautiful about New Orleans and its fantastic African, French, Spanish, German and Italian heritage. But we can also claim new progressive elements that remain unfulfilled. New Orleans used to be able to claim that it was an international city, when will be able to do so again?
Tags: hispanic, hispanic community new orleans, hispanic louisiana, hispanic new orleans, international city new orleans, latino, latino community new orleans, latino louisiana, latino new orleans, latinola, lucas diaz